'Fifth season' in Soomaa
Submitted by Looduskalender on 28 March 2010 - 9:46am
It seems to be truly the last moment to start following the "fifth season” of Soomaa.

The web camera image is renewed at intervals up to a few minutes, depending on the transmission conditions (see live image HERE ). For an overall view this interval is quite sufficient. A mark showing last year’s highest water level will soon be put up at the web camera location at Karukosk at Raudna river.

The Riisa station of EMHI, the Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, is located a few kilometres downstream along Halliste river from the outflow of Raudna, and reflects the water level in Soomaa (see graph below).

Why do we also add EMHI’s snow cover map, renewed every day? Because there is still emough snow left in Soomaa, and the ditches haven’t yet started carrying the water into the rivers.

Floods can also be observed in the Regio map. The NASA satellite image, renewed daily, is used as a basis. It needs only enlarging the map at Soomaa’s position. The ground and water surfaces can only be seen in clear, cloudless weather.

A great number of splendid people and organisations assist the enterprise. Many thanks to them!

This is a new camera near Pärnu, Estonia – spring flooding camera, placed on the coast of river Raudna whick will start flooding very soon according to weather predictions. This river can raise water level sometimes more than 4 meters. Camera is called Soomaa 5th season camera because local villages name 5th season the flooding time when life in villages of Soomaa will completely change and the only way to travel is dugout canoe. Some information about this area can be found on http://www.soomaa.com/ english page.

Camera sends 1 frame per second but as this place is in very wild area the connection is not good all the time and actual frames may change even after 10 seconds. Frames will be composed together to day videos showing in fast movement how river water level is rising. Camera can be seen http://www.looduskalender.ee/node/6925 (on the first image in real time).

A video interview about the Soomaa floods to come - or not - is on LK's main page. Here is a rough transcript & translation, for those who would like to test their Estonian ear, with some help
The interviewer is probably Aivar Ruukel, who made the video.

Interviewer: When will the ice break up, then?Kuusekäära Indrek: Well, in about one week it should be gone. Today is Saturday, so end of next week. It is much less thick now, such a snow-ice. Interviewer : How would you describe spring this year?Kuusekäära Indrek: Well, spring is as spring is ...It was said that we would have a great flood disaster in Soomaa, but I thought at once, no, there won’t be. And nature does what it does, always, but it doesn’t just destroy things either.Interviewer: So people who come looking for the Soomaa "5th season” will be disappointed?Kuusekäära Indrek: The fifth season will come, to be sure, but not any enormous floods, it will be a "normal” 5th season ...Interviewer : What is a "normal” 5th season like, then?Kuusekäära Indrek: Well, much water of course, and all smaller roads will be under water, and of course the traditional places where there usually are floods will be flooded. But there will not be anything like a disaster. Much of the snow has already gone, nature has swallowed it already
It won’t be like the year 1999. Then there was an enormous amount of ice, the ground was frozen and all places were full of water. There was a thaw and flooding in January and it froze again . This year there have been no thaws and freezing. The ground isn’t frozen, much water has already seeped into the groundInterviewer: Who or what are the spring signs?Kuusekäära Indrek: The wagtail was here today already, so that too shows that in about something like 5-7 days, the ice should be gone [the wagtail is called icebreaker in some areas in Estonia]. Some days ago the cranes arrived, starlings and chaffinches are already here too.Interviewer. So the ice will be gone at the end of the weekKuusekäära Indrek: Yes, around April 3;. there is already water on the ice. People come looking for water, to go by canoes. It should at least be possible to try the canoes on the river at the end of the week